


a chalk-stained kiss

by hulklinging



Category: Runaways (Comics), Young Avengers
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, F/F, F/M, Genderqueer Character, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-14
Updated: 2016-06-14
Packaged: 2018-07-14 23:40:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,090
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7195967
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hulklinging/pseuds/hulklinging
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Princess Karolina has always loved fairy tales. Now, at eighteen, she's hoping to make her own, if only she can bring herself to care about any of the suitors coming to ask for her hand.</p>
            </blockquote>





	a chalk-stained kiss

**Author's Note:**

> This is the longest one shot I've ever written and oh man thanks I love everyone who's gone and clicked on this thank you. <3

Karolina of Dean has always loved fairy tales.

"You're a princess!" teases her best friend. When they're older, she'll be one of Karolina's ladies in waiting, like her mother is for Karolina's mother. For now, they're simply playmates, sisters in all but blood, attached at the hip. "Your life is a fairy tale!"

Nico didn't understand that it wasn't about being a princess. It was about... finding a prince of her own choosing. Being allowed to get lost in the woods, or sail away on some ship.

She just grins at Nico. "I like happy endings."

Around the time she starts to realize she might not want to find a prince at all, Nico opens her mouth to curse at a split seam, and an actual curse spills out instead. She and Karolina stare at each other, terrified, and before Karolina thinks to protest Nico is packing her bags. She's being sent away to some mage in the East, the best tutor of magic in the Five Lands.

She watches Nico's carriage speed her away, and feels her heart go with her.

It takes a long time for her to realize that there's something wrong with her.

Not like there was something wrong with Nico, before she let her magic out, when she would cough up blood as her body fought to contain something it wasn't meant to.

"I think I might be broken," she admits to her bodyguard, who is tall and who her ladies say is very handsome, but she looks at him and only sees a boy playing at being a man. Still, his smile is playful and his words plain. He keeps her counsel and her trust, and in their time of peace that's the most important thing a bodyguard could offer her.

"You're not broken, princess. You're only sixteen. You can't break before you stop growing."

She grins, because she's almost as tall as he is, and he is done growing.

"You act awfully wise for a boy of eighteen."

He shrugs. "I come by it dishonestly, I'm afraid."

He means his parents, weapon makers working for her father. He says he doesn't have their talent for creating death, but his hands are clever when he thinks no one is watching. When she is queen, she thinks she will make him one of her inventors, only she won't limit him to weapons.

She heeds Chase's words, but when she watches him slowly and awkwardly begin to court one of the girls training to be a scribe, she can't help but feel she should be grown enough to understand that.

All too soon, she is turning eighteen. She is both dreading it and not, because somewhere off to the East, Nico is turning eighteen as well, finishing her training, and then she will take her vows and come back to Karolina's side. But also because eighteen is the time where princesses often get married, and as the only child of a powerful king and queen she will be seen as valuable. Princes will come from all over and she is terrified that she will look into all of their eyes and not fall in love with a single one.

The first one comes on the first day of spring, and she wants to get on her horse and race Chase to the river, laughing as her ladies keep up as best they can, feeling the wind playing with her long hair. But she's inside, letting the maid Cassie do her hair in the traditional way of her people, chalk pigments making her hair look like a rainbow, framing her face and swirling across her hands. She used to long for this, she remembers. She couldn't wait until she was old enough to don the chalk, to look half as beautiful as her mother. But now she frets, trying to stay still as Cassie's fingers trace yellow over her cheeks and her heart is butterflies with every soft touch.

The prince is a bore, ten years her senior, set to inhert nothing as the second son, but a powerful tie to the Kingdom to the West. He kisses the air over her hand, so someone must have instructed him that she is not to be touched when she is done up like this, and she longs to reach out and smear her makeup over his cheeks. Perhaps it would bring some life to his face.

"What did you think of him, dear?" asks her mother. A formailty. This is a decision that might fall to her, but it will not be made until winter comes a calling again, when she sends out letters to the men who most interested her, and they all dance for her hand as they ring in the new year.

"It would be a strong alliance," she replies, because she knows that's what her mother wants to hear.

Chase's clever scribe has finished her training, and before he can even ask Karolina has already reached out to add her to her household. Lady Gertrude is quiet at first, so quiet that Karolina struggles to see what drew Chase to her, until she realizes that the silence is only so that she does not say anything out of turn. After some encouragement from Karolina, Gertrude is a delight, doling out opinions on everything from the politics of the land, the laws of peasants, and every prince that parades past. Karolina thinks she is wasted just being a scribe, but asks for permission to bring her to the audiences with the suitors anyway. She values Lady Gert's sharp eye and sharper tongue, and knows that when this court is hers she will sit her in an advisor's chair. Chase is even cheerier than usual, knowing that he won't have to say goodbye to his lady anytime soon, and Karolina can't help but smile when she spends time with them both.

Her ladies are also a kind respite from the princes. With her coming of age, her entorage must grow, and she gets to add ladies her own age to their numbers. The older women act as chaperones, but it's the younger ones who share the chambers next to hers, who act as her confidants and her loving subjects in one. She thinks she might be a little in love with all of them, which she tells herself is only normal. A proper queen loves her people.

There's Lady Katherine, younger daughter of one of the most powerful Lords of the kingdom, which dark hair and confidence that takes her breath away. She can outshoot every one of Karolina's guards, even on horseback, even in her skirts.

Lady Sofia, the fastest rider of them all. When she is in the saddle, she looks almost like she is flying. She is a lesser princess of a small kingdom on their southern borders, sent here to learn how to be a lady, and she speaks like she is singing.

Lady Julie is Karolina's favourite, though she would not say so out loud. She looks like she should be the one wearing the rainbow chalk of royalty, beautiful and kind and laughing. She often stays after the other ladies retire for the night, and one night Karolina dismisses her maid with daring in her veins. Julie's eyes are like the sky, and Karolina wants to wear their colour, but her chalks and pigments could never do justice to the depths she finds in her lady's eyes.

"M'lady?"

Julie is whispering, which makes it all seem more intimate, more covert. They have done nothing wrong, and yet Karolina's pulse is racing.

"Lady Julie," she breaths back. "Have you ever kissed someone?"

She is a noblewoman, she should shake her head, protest the dishonour of even being asked. But she doesn't. Instead she inclines her head, very slightly.

"Just once."

Karolina feels like she's forgotten how to breathe.

"Show me?"

She does.

In the daylight, Karolina watches the princes attempt to charm her parents, often ignoring her entirely, and she knows now why she will not fall for any of them. She stops looking for one that draws her in, and instead looks for one who might be kind, who might extend the tradition of a king's indescritions to his queen as well. Someone she could live with, and work with. She will not love him, but she will be a good queen, she will do her duty. She just doesn't want to give up the nights, full of Lady Julie and her learning each other. Surely, one of these men will let her have both.

Nico comes as summer fades, and Karolina hardly recognizes her at first. She is all in black, like a mourner at a funeral, and in her hands the staff that only the highest of her order may carry. She presents herself to Karolina in the same hall where Karolina meets her princes, and Karolina wishes she was one of them. When Nico stops a few feet from her chair and lowers herself into a deep curtsy, Karolina stands and opens her arms and her voice only shakes a little.

"Surely I cannot demand a curtsy from the one who taught me how," she says, and Nico looks up and smiles the same smile Karolina remembers. They embrace, and Karolina's heart blooms. Nico is to be her sorceress, a gem in her guard and her court, and it feels right. Nico seems to be made to stand at her side, or perhaps that is just how they grew as children, making space for each other.

It only takes two days for Nico to ask about Lady Julie. Karolina doesn't try to lie, and there is no judgement in Nico's eyes.

"It is good of you, to find your own happiness. The world won't give you much of that on its own."

Karolina smiles in relief, and grasps her oldest friend's shoulder. "The same for you, Nico. Your happiness is mine. Anything I can do for you, just say the word."

She says nothing when she notices Nico spending more time with a brown haired boy in her guard, just makes sure to tell Chase that she would like him added to their ranks permanently, please. Her captain grins and calls her meddling, but he does as she wishes.

Nico also brings to her entorage a second magic weilder, a William of Kaplan. His specialty is in physical magics, to balance out Nico's own prowess over the powers less concrete.

"He also has the same problem you do," Nico confides in her. Karolina nods, understanding. A position in her household will keep at bay any expectations a young Lord-to-be might have in regards to how early he should be wed. And he is biting and brilliant. Karolina has no complaints.

The threat of the new year is a growing pit at the bottom of her stomach, and her and Julie's nights get more desperate as her deadline looms. She still has not taken a liking to any of her suitors, and she despares at thoughts of her future.

They are out on a ride as the leaves fall from the trees when her horse spooks. She's not riding her usual mount, had decided on trying out a new horse. She wanted the distraction an unkown element could add to a ride, but now all she can do is hold on, white-knuckled, as the horse explodes beneath her. She hears Lady Katherine's shout, Nico's curse, and then she's gone. It takes her longer than she would like to regain control, and when she does she's quite alone, a rarity for a princess.

She's found her way to a road and is making her way back along it when she hears the sound of hooves behind her. She slows in curiosity and the riders catch up with her. Another hopeful prince, it looks like. She had 'accidentally' left all of her symbols of her position off today, and to anyone who did not know what the princess looked like, she would just be another noblewoman in service to the crown.

"Who do you ride with?" she asks woman riding at the head of the party. She's beautiful, but what's more shocking is that she's in a man's tunic and breeches. She takes in all of Karolina with a trained eye, and then guestures her over to ride alongside her.

"Strange, to see a lady like yourself out alone."

"I was riding with the princess. My horse got spooked."

There's an approving look in the girl's eye. "And you kept your seat. Well done. I am the captain of the guard of His Highness, Prince Xavin of the Skrull Empire."

The Skrull Empire? It's the vast Empire to the North, and Xavin is one of the King's sons, if she remembers correctly. Last time the nations had talked an alliance, they had only been interested in sending matches that were more removed from the main royal family. The fact that they sent someone from the main branch showed that they were more serious, this time. Karolina tried to keep her surprise off of her face.

"And he comes to meet with our princess?"

"He does."

Karolina looks behind her at the riders, who have mostly ignored the new rider in their midst. She sees a few more women riders, all dressed like America, and tries not to guess which one is the prince. None of them are wearing the crown that the princes of Skrull usually wear, at least from what she's read. She turns back towards America and asks light questions about Skrull, but all she's thinking is _if he lets women in his guard, then perhaps he has potential._

They part ways at the castle gates. Her deception almost goes unnoticed, except that Billy is waiting for her there.

"I told them not to follow you," he tells her, but doesn't explain. He has gotten distracted by one of the prince's guard, a tall blonde with wide shoulders and a large smile that is currently turned on Billy. Karolina watches her witch's face go read with no small amount of pleasure.

"Thank you, William."

"It was nice riding with you," America says. "Your Highness."

It is Karolina's turn to blush. She is no court dancer, taught to disguise her accent and her person. She was obviously not as successful as playing a simple lady-in-waiting as she thought.

"And yourself, Lady America," she says, and follows William to reunite with her ladies.

She is strangely nervous when she meets Prince Xavin. He is strange, her age when most of her suitors have been at least a few years her senior, and he holds himself like a soldier. She remembers Gertrude mentioning that the princes of Skrull all spend time in the common army, and now she has proof in front of her.

His features are more delicate than she usually sees on men, and when he approaches her, he speaks with respect and listens to her responses with what seems like genuine interest. Whereas most of the men who come pay more attention to her parents, he barely spares them a second glance. Before he even leaves, she knows she has found who she will choose, come the new year's celebration.

The Prince and his following announce their wish to stay at the palace until the ball, and it doesn't take long for them to be joined by the rest of the suitors, as the castle starts to prepare for winter and with it, the elaborate new year's festival. It's almost a full moon cycle of parties and dances, all leading up to the ball where she will announce her husband-to-be. Her seamstresses are rushing to finish the dresses of her and her ladies, and Karolina even finds herself picking up a needle, elbow to elbow with her ladies, to do some of the simpler embrodery.

With how busy she is, she is pleasantly surprised by how often she finds herself running into people from Prince Xavin's camp. Lady America joins in with her and her ladies on one of their afternoon rides, along with the blonde Sir Theodore. That means that William actually joins them on their rides, which has all of her ladies passing around knowing smiles. Seeing her witch and the blonde knight fall into deep conversations with more and more ease, she feels more and more sure in her choice of husband.

Lady Julie comes back to her rooms one day with an exciting story about running into the Prince himself, and how he seemed awkward but kind, and really very beautiful, too. Karolina watches her lover and feels excitement over the holiday for the first time.

She sees very little of the Prince himself, which she is surprisingly disappointed about. They see each other at supper, but the seating arrangements change every night, so it's not often that they are seated close enough to talk. And then the parties begin, and she sees even less of him, although he always finds her for at least once dance, every night. In nights where all of the princes blend together in a wash of too-tight hands and condescending voices, he stands out, not just because of his dark complexion and his striking features, but because of how lightly he holds her waist when they spin, how when they speak he listens more than talks.

She could live with him, she thinks. She could love him, in a way.

"I wouldn't mind sharing you with him," Julie whispers in her ear, tone teasing as they lay together one night. "If I must share."

The next day, Karolina causes a stir by wearing a more feminine version of the pants and tunic Lady America and the other lady guards wear, and when her and Xavin dance after the marvelous dinner she thinks she catches a blush on his cheeks as he takes in her clothing.

"You look stunning," he tells her, and it does not sound like a line. It sounds honest. Karolina has grown up in a castle, groomed for a throne. She knows the value of honesty.

On the final night, she is back in dresses. This last one the most marvelous of all, layers upon layers of pure white silks and skirts. It takes Cassie two hours to do her chalk, which she has managed to avoid thus far for the festival. The mix of colours flow all the way up her arms, her neck, and on this day of the year, her face as well. Nestled in her rainbow hair is a pure silver circlet, the final touch. When she sees herself reflected back at her in the looking glass, she can't help but gasp. She looks so much like her mother.

"You look beautiful," Julie gasps, and dips into a curtsy. The rest of her ladies follow suit, and even Nico and William bow as she walks past. And she feels beautiful, sees the awe and the pride on everyone's faces as she walks past them, servants and nobles alike.

"You are the brightest gem in the crown of this beautiful kingdom," says her mother, as she takes her place on the raised dias where they will welcome in the new year, later in the night, and where she will announce her choice afterwards. Tonight, the rest of the court dances while she watches on, removed from it all by a few short steps. She watches Lady Katherine laugh with Lady America, Lady Sophia and Lady Julie honouring her with their grace on the dance floor. William and Nico are talking magic with one of the mage princes and Sir Theodore.

When Prince Xavin enters, he stares at Karolina until she's sure her blush can be seen even through all the makeup. It actually takes a nudge from another of his party to get him moving again, which makes Karolina giggle.

None of the princes are to approach her tonight, leaving her to view them all and to have space in which to make her decision. As the hours wind down, the dances become trickier, the older members of the court retiring to the tables on the outskirts as the princes and the younger members of the court move in tighter circles, more touching and smiling and flirting. It is considered good luck, to meet your partner during this most auspicious of nights, and she wishes her ladies the best as she watches them from above.

When the clock begins to chime, all eyes turn to her. She stands, and for the first time in her life her parents stay sitting. She will welcome in the new year on her own, this year. She holds out her hands just as the clock finishes, and the ballroom is completely silent. The traditional words feel strange in her mouth, even though she's whispered them alongside her parents ever since she could talk.

"We thank the sun for continuing to pull time forward," she says, and her own voice sounds foreign to her ears, full of a power that scares her. "And the moon, who reminds us to take our time. We thank the seasons, for blessing us with good harvest and protection, and we thank the rain, for washing away the mistakes we have made. We welcome in the new year with fresh hearts, open to another year of growth and of learning..."

Under all of their eyes, her voice grows, and she lowers her hands with the last line, only used in years like this, when a prince or princess turns eighteen. "...and of love." The ritual is finished, the prayer echoing around her. There are whispers of 'so mote it be', from her subjects and from those who have familiarized themselves with their customes. She sees Prince Xavin's lips move, and feels warm.

"We thank you all for coming to ask for our hand. We have made our choice, and would like to remind you all that this choice is sacrad, and we will hear no arguments." She lifts a hand once more. "If you accept our offer, Prince Xavin of Skrull, please come forward and take our hand."

In silence, he steps forward, goes to one knee in front of her, and brushes his lips to her hand.

The ballroom fills with the sound of applause. She sees more smiles than disappointment, and feels a weight fall from her shoulders. The hardest part is over, then. She feels like she could perhaps fly.

She will not take the Prince to her bed until the wedding, which will come with the spring, and so after her announcement they all return to their respective quarters. She dismisses her ladies for the night, knowing that some will go back to their rooms and some will go to the parties that will sprout up in private chambers. A tryst on this night is not considered a loss of one's honour, and so many of the young women will take advantage of that, and she wishes them well.

Lady Julie stays, and insists on being the one to wash away the chalk, the colour streaming down her hands as she caresses Karolina's skin clean. They fall together with love, comfortable in the knowledge that they might get to hold each other longer than they expected, that they might last longer than Karolina's wedding night, and celebrating that fact.

Karolina is woken up not by the sun, but by the sound of metal against metal. She jolts awake, and Julie stirs beside her, still caught up in dreams.

"What is it?"

"There's fighting in the hall," she whispers. She gave her guard the night off, trusting too deeply in the holiness of the night preventing any attack. So then who is fighting on her behalf? Because any sword drawn in this hall certainly has been drawn with her in mind, there's no one else in this wing.

Julie tenses, and reaches for the candle. She blows it out, and they sit in darkness, listening as the fight gets louder and then quieter again, either moving away or being lost as they listen. Finally, there's a knock on the door, and Prince Xavin himself enters, holding a lanturn.

"Your Highness?"

The lanturn is bright enough to reach her bed, and her and her lady stare with twin expressions of horror as the Prince takes in the picture they make.

"I am going to fill the princess in," he says to someone in the hallway. "Her lady is here as chaparone."

And then he steps in and closes the door.

Karolina might be nude and unarmed, but she is still a princess and this is her bedchamber. She sits up straight, chin up.

"What do you think you are doing, Prince Xavin?"

"Prince Topher did not respect your choice," the Prince says, no dancing around the point. "My guard thought he was acting suspicious, and alerted me. We met with his men in the corridor. He was injured in the fight, but unfortunately he should survive."

His sword is red, and looks ominous in the flickering light. Karolina can't stop looking at it.

"Forgive me for my assumption, Princess," he says, and his eyes stay at the level of her own, not once flickering down over the rest of her body. "But I did not know the traditions of this night extended to your own bedchamber."

"They do not."

Prince Xavin nods, and his eyes go to Julie. "I apologize for our meeting being so... unconventional. But it is nice to meet you."

"And you, Your Highness." The surprise and confusion is obvious in Julie's voice, but Karolina is proud of how little fear there is.

Prince Xavin steps back towards the door, and the whole thing feels very strange, almost dreamlike. "We should talk over breakfast, I think."

And then, with a jerky bow, he steps out and closes the door behind him. Karolina listens for footsteps, and then realizes that he isn't walking away, is instead standing guard for her.

She's too confused to fall back asleep, and Julie beside her is the same. They whisper back and forth until the birds start to sing, and then get up to begin their day. There's no sign of the Prince outside, when they open the door, only an apologetic Chase, horrified that things could have gone so differently. She leaves Julie to talk him down, as she dresses herself. She doesn't want to wait for the maids, and this is the one day where the castle wakes up late.

When she shows up outside of Prince Xavin's rooms, though, his whole household is awake, bright eyed and in good spirits.

"He's waiting for you in there," says Lady America, and actually winks at Karolina as she passes her. "And for her, too." She nods at Julie, who looks surprised to be singled out.

They enter, Julie one step behind her princess, to a simple table, and Xavin alone at it.

It is obviously Xavin, although not a side of Xavin she has ever seen. He's wearing a suit not unlike the one that Karolina wore to that one night of celebrations, hugging his surprisingly small waist, pant legs wide enough to almost mimic skirts. His hair, usually slicked back in typical men's fashion, is loose and down around his face.

He looks like a fairy tale, like the creatures said to wander woods and lure young folk from the paths, genderless and enchanting.

He stands when they enter, and waves a hand at the two empty chairs, one on either side of him. Karolina sits, and Julie a moment afterward. Only after they are seated does Xavin sit back down.

"I wanted you to see," he says, voice softer than usual. "That in Skrull, we care less about the body we are born with. Even words like.... prince and princess, there's no distinction between the two, in our language." He looks up at Karolina, and then at Julie, and there's that honesty again, what originally gave Karolina hope in him. "We understand that it is quite different here, so we have done our best to respect the customs of this country. We also understand that with that, there are... relationships that are seen as... taboo. That is also not something that we believe in."

Understanding spreads through Karolina like sunshine, bringing warmth with it. She looks over at Julie to see that her lady is having the same reaction, looking at Karolina with raw love in her eyes.

"I hope," Karolina begins, not wanting to get ahead of herself. "That nothing you saw last night made you regret being my betrothed."

Xavin shakes his head, and Karolina can't help but notice how his long hair compliments his sharp features. She wonders what he would look like with chalk highlights on his cheeks and a bright stain on his lips. Gorgeous, probably.

"Not at all." He looks down at his plate, and Karolina realizes that he's gone suddenly shy. "All I ask is that you give me a chance to court you. I do not want to compete with your lady, here. I just... think you are beautiful. And clever, and kind. You will be a lovely Queen." He raises his head to meet her eyes once more. "I really do look forward to being your King."

"And Queen," Karolina says. She's not sure if it's the right thing to say, but the bright surprise on Xavin's face says it is. "My King and Queen, if you wish."

In the years to follow, the household becomes accostomed to sometimes going into the Princess and her consort's chambers to see two blonde heads framing one brunette one. With how happy their princess seems, they keep their mouths shut about it. The Lady Julie never marries, although she is treated with the highest level of respect within the castle. In fact, the young couple's court boasts many of the finest unmarried youth in the kingdom, although they're hardly without their attatchments. Lady America and Lady Katherine have been sharing chambers almost as long as William and Sir Theodore have, but the gossips don't know that. What they do know is that the young couple is very much in love, how wonderful for them, the kingdom will be in good hands, the King and Queen must rest easily knowing that.

Karolina still loves fairy tales. How could she not? She's living in one.


End file.
